Josh Daniel’s audition was the last one the X-Factor UK judges would entertain that day.
It was a long day and both the judges and Daniel admitted that his audition could go one of two ways: very well or very badly.
Still, the 21-year-old car mechanic who lived with his mom was positive and determined to put on a good show for the judges and the audience.
That’s because the performance had a special meaning for him.
He sang “Jealous” by English electronic musician Labrinth.
The song was written by Labrinth in Nashville, Tennessee along with Josh Kear and Natalie Hemby. It was described by MTV as a “heartbreaking ballad.” According to Wikipedia, the song is about one of Labrinth’s parents who left his family when he was just 4-years-old.
“A lot of people have been through that experience. It’s kind of written from the perspective of how my family felt at the time, but I wanted to write it so anyone could dig into the song and relate to it to their own situation,” Labrinth stated.
And that’s exactly what Daniel did when he sang it for the judges on X-Factor UK.
“It means a lot to me, for a different reason than I think how Labrinth wrote it,” Daniel told the judges. ” I lost my best friend a couple of years ago and I kind of interpret the lyrics in a completely different way.”
He began to choke up when he continued explaining why he chose the song he did.
“I was 18 at the time. We were really, really close. We did everything together.”
Daniel explained that he interpreted the lyrics “I’m jealous that you’re happy without me” because he’s jealous that his friend is happy in heaven and moved onto a better place and that he can’t still be with him.”
He had the hearts of the judges and the audience right off the bat with his sad story.
However, his vocals proved that he was also a great vocal talent. He was able to flawlessly hit all of the high notes with full-fledged emotion. It was quite impressive.
Everyone was taken aback by Daniels performance. Judge Simon Cowell seemed to be fighting back the tears by the end of his performance and he actually let a few fall. Grab yourself a tissue and watch Daniel’s performance below and see if he gets through to the next round.
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